Media Daze Version 20.07

Jul 31, 2007

Courtesy of Whit Watson

Sun Sports

TAMPA, Fla. - I’d love to know what
happened to put Urban Meyer in such a great mood on Saturday.

At last year’s Florida Sports Writers Association College
Football Media Days, Meyer wasn’t unfriendly, exactly, but he
was straight business. Arrived with his UF sports information
department escorts at precisely the scheduled time, performed his
media obligations, and departed without much frivolity. But this
year? He was downright chipper.

The format for this annual event is something of a tap-dance.
While one coach addresses the state media in a main conference
room, another sits down across the hall with either Paul Kennedy,
Brady Ackerman, or me for an extended interview. In between, each
coach — and there are 12 football-playing colleges and
universities in Florida — has to squeeze in five minutes in
yet another conference room to shoot promotional spots for Sun
Sports and FSN Florida. Our staff, with considerable help from the
Tampa Bay Sports Commission, shuttles each coach back and forth,
trying to stay on schedule and avoid backups. Sun Sports/FSN
Florida has been co-sponsoring this event for several years now,
and we’ve learned the necessity of moving things along
— most of these coaches are already beaten down from their
own conference media days, and they all have somewhere else to be
as soon as the FSWA event concludes. There’s a sense of
urgency to the proceedings, especially when dealing with a
high-demand coach like Miami’s Randy Shannon or Florida
State’s Bobby Bowden. Or Urban Meyer.

Yet, when Meyer entered the Quorum Hotel in Tampa a few minutes
early on Saturday morning, he was as relaxed as I can ever remember
at this event. I suppose that the afterglow of an SEC title and BCS
national championship can alter one’s attitude, but still
— he’s trying to replace 9 starters on defense and six
on offense, including a four-year senior quarterback. His 2007
schedule is typically brutal. I would have understood some tension.
Hell, I would have expected it, and excused it.

Instead, Meyer was chatty. Cool as a cucumber. Asked us how our
summer was going. Mentioned that his son is into fishing now, and
watches the Chevy Florida Fishing Report every week. He showed
interest in, and familiarity with, virtually all of Sun
Sports’ football programming, including Rec Warehouse College
Kickoff, Tailgate Overtime, and especially the postgames. It was a
conversation that I might expect to have with Mario Cristobal at
FIU, or Kerwin Bell at Jacksonville University, but not with Meyer.
Not with the head coach of the defending national champions.

We’re entering our fifth season of the “Chevy
Tailgate Weekend” block of football shows, and there’s
something pleasantly gratifying about coaches noticing what we do.
When I introduced Bowden at his press conference on Sunday, he gave
me a nice compliment off-microphone, noting that “you did
some great interviews this summer” — a reference to
“In My Own Words,” the series that replaced Tailgate
Overtime on Mondays. The compliments are nice, but that’s not
the point. The point is, they’re watching. After four years,
the studio shows have developed an identity, and that’s a big
deal for a regional sports network like ours. It’s good for
business. And that makes me think that the hours upon hours of
preparation and the marathon Saturdays are worth it. When the head
football coaches at Florida and Florida State go out of their way
to mention your programming, it’s a safe bet that a few of
their fans are watching as well.

Of course, in Bowden’s case, it probably helped that two
of his most popular Seminoles, LeRoy Butler and Derrick Brooks,
were featured this summer on “In My Own Words,” as were
Florida State athletic director Dave Hart and returning assistant
coach Chuck Amato. No matter.

Other notes from the FSWA Media Days in Tampa:

Of the seven D-I football programs in Florida, three have new
head coaches this year, and all three were very impressive in their
FSWA debuts. Randy Shannon was one of the first subjects we
interviewed for “In My Own Words,” and if anything, his
first few months as Miami’s top dog have produced a new level
of comfort. He answered the inevitable “discipline”
questions calmly and directly. While Shannon discussed his new team
rules extensively during our interview last spring, many of the
state media were apparently hearing it for the first time —
after Shannon spoke on Saturday, there were dozens of articles like
this one in papers all over the state, hailing Shannon as the new
sheriff in town (as readers in St. Petersburg, Tampa, and even
Gainesville learned the next morning).

Now that the state media has picked up on it, the national media
cannot be far behind. So far, Shannon has renovated Miami’s
image and kept his players out of the summer headlines. Plus,
he’s got 16 starters coming back and a schedule that includes
four home games in September. Though he hasn’t coached a game
yet, Shannon appears to be well on his way to justifying
Miami’s faith in him. His first FSWA appearance was a solid
win.

Similarly, FIU’s Mario Cristobal has a rebuilding job
ahead of him, one that makes Miami’s look easy: the Golden
Panthers were winless in 2006, gaining national noteriety as
“the team that brawled with the Hurricanes.” Cristobal,
who is the second-youngest head coach in Division I football (and
looks like it), nevertheless brought a clear sense of purpose to
the FSWA meetings, focusing entirely on football. His opening
comments included laying out his team’s goal of winning the
Sun Belt Conference, and he, like Shannon, has handed down a set of
no-cell-phones-or-hats rules for his players. For those members of
the media in the room who won’t spend much time on FIU this
season (and that included the bulk of the audience), it was a
compelling few minutes.

If you don’t know Mario Cristobal, you will. A former
standout offensive lineman at Miami who played in four bowl games
as a Hurricane, Cristobal served on Miami’s staff as an
assistant for several seasons, with a three-year stint at Rutgers
with Greg Schiano sandwiched in between. He’s a Miami native,
a 5am-to-11pm grinder, and a tenacious recruiter who learned the
ropes from men like Schiano, Larry Coker, and Butch Davis.
He’s got the stuff. Even cynics like my main man Mike Bianchi
were impressed, although Mikey couldn’t help but wonder how
long FIU will be able to keep Cristobal in the fold. Valid
question. If he can recruit as well has his track record indicates,
Cristobal may stick around on Calle Ocho just long enough to get
FIU to respectability before taking off for the big time.

One of the most intriguing press conferences of the weekend was
Kerwin Bell’s session on Sunday. Bell, who left Florida as
the SEC’s all-time leading passer, bounced around from the
NFL to the World League to the CFL as a player before finding a
niche as a high school coach at Ocala Trinity Catholic. There, he
built a football program from nothing and took the Celtics to two
state championship games, winning the Class 2B title in 2005 and
losing in a return appearance in ’06. When Bell was hired at
Jacksonville University, a I-AA non-scholarship program in the
Pioneer Football League, it was considered to be a home run in
terms of PR for the Dolphins. However, Bell made it clear in Tampa
that he’s not there for window dressing.

“I tell everybody that there’s no reason why you
should play this game of football if you’re not trying to win
championships,” Bell said. “We’re all about one
simple goal. For us, that’s winning the Pioneer Football
League title and going to a bowl game. We don’t care about a
winning record. We know we’re going to do that.”

Heady stuff for a program that, the way Bell tells it,
traditionally recruited players by sifting through the leftovers in
the weeks following National Signing Day. No more of that. Bell has
already weeded out 22 players since January through 5:30am
practices and mat drills — sound familiar? — and lined
up 15 recruits on signing day this year. He didn’t come here
to paint.

While the “weed-out” story is straight-up Urban
Meyer, more than one writer in Tampa noted that Bell has quite a
bit of Spurrier in him, and I would agree. He may not be as
polarizing as the Ol’ Ball Coach — not yet, anyway
— but it’s obvious from listening to Bell that he does
nothing halfway, and despises losing. Like Shannon and Cristobal,
Bell’s first duty is to change the culture at Jacksonville.
Ever since we went on the air with “Chevy Tailgate
Weekend” in 2003, the JU program has been portrayed as
something of a diversion for the students, something fun to do on a
Saturday. Bell wants none of that. He wants to play some serious
football, which is a serious challenge at a school without football
scholarships. Still, like Shannon and Cristobal, I find myself
rooting for Kerwin Bell to succeed. There’s something very
powerful about a coach with a lot to prove.

As for the rest of the weekend, you can pick up any newspaper in
the state for details. Bowden was spectacular, as always.
There’s a reason why the FSWA always schedules him as the
final speaker on the final day. Howard Schnellenberger was in fine
form, stalking the podium with tales of on-campus stadiums in Boca
Raton and his “advanced training program,” which is
Howard’s euphamism for Florida Atlantic’s typically
suicidal non-conference schedule — he hates the term
“money games.” Alvin Wyatt was well-dressed, and yes,
he wore his sunglasses indoors for the entire press conference.
Rubin Carter spoke of FAMU’s long recovery from NCAA
violations and other internal strife, calling 2007 his
“second full season” — a reference to the fact
that, even though it’s technically his third year in
Tallahassee, his late-summer hire as Billy Joe’s replacement
in 2005 rendered that season a total wash.

By the way — while Urban Meyer arrived on Saturday morning
in coat and tie with three similarly dressed UF sports information
officers in tow, Carter got to the Quorum Hotel on Friday
afternoon, alone, carrying his own luggage. Later that afternoon,
as I was checking e-mail in the Quorum’s business lounge, I
happened to look out the window to see Carter power-walking laps
around the hotel.

Why does Rubin Carter, a former All-American defensive lineman
and sports Hall of Famer at Miami, first-round draft pick, 12-year
NFL veteran, and two-time Super Bowl participant, show up by
himself at a hotel in Tampa, carrying his own bags, for the purpose
of speaking to the media for 30 minutes the following day?

Because this is Florida, baby, and this is football. You ready?
Rubin Carter is.